Archive for May, 2011

We already knew quite a bit about Verizon’s upcoming Motorola Droid X2 and now an official spec sheet has shown up to fill us in on the rest. The X2 is a 4.3-inch, 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2-powered device with qHD resolution and an eight-megapixel camera.

It runs Android 2.2 Froyo but will likely be shipping with 2.3 Gingerbread. Looks like the RAM/ROM configuration will be the same as the original Droid X at 512MB/8GB. The Tegra 2 chipset allows higher-quality video playback (1080p over HDMI) and higher framerates for playback and capture.

Looks like PSN has begun to come back online, but access is currently restricted to developers, and it’s still very sporadic. It has been confirmed with several developers that access is now available.

We hope that this means it will be only days until the rest of us are online, but the only date we have heard is the end of this month when Sony says things should be working again. Now it looks like it could be as soon as next week if this information is correct.

Netflix finally has an Android app that is publicly available. The app is pretty identical to the one released for the iPhone and it lets users manage their instant queue and watch videos. Of course to use it you need a subscription starting from $8.

Thing is, only a handful of phones can use the Netflix app, all of which are using Snapdragon processors. These first five include the Samsung Nexus S and four HTC phones, including the Evo 4G, the original Incredible, the Nexus One, and the T-Mobile G2. The Droid Incredible 2 and Thunderbolt, weren’t mentioned, though they have also have Snapdragon.

This is not good news for Sony. Retail sources have indicated that PS3 console trade-ins have dramatically risen as the controversial PSN outage drags on. Apparently during the first week of downtime there was not any major change in sales or trades according to one store manager ‘at a major UK retailer’.

However, starting on the second week onwards, there has been an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 down the middle between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 in it’s place. Ouch! Sony had better get it’s act together before things get ugly.

Well we already suspected as much, but Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot mentioned that his teams will be able to use a lot of the work done on titles for the current HD consoles when developing for Nintendo’s new platform. Guillemot says, “So we will not have to redo completely the games that we create. We’ll be able to use all the capacity the console is giving but also use all the work we do for the other platforms.”

Good news for them and it’s not a surprise, but it does confirm that Nintendo’s next console will be as powerful or more powerful than the current generation of HD consoles. Yes, it should be a great console. Then again these are the same people who released the Wii with only 480p, so who knows.

Verizon has finally released the long-awaited over-the-air software update for the popular HTC Thunderbolt. Right now the update needs to be downloaded manually and it brings with it several important fixes that users will appreciate. There’s a fix for data problems when accessing Verizon’s 3G network and it will also stabilize the performance of data-heavy apps.

GPS updates are said to be faster when using Google Maps and VZ Navigator with the update. Also, SMS and MMS messages will be stored properly and location information in the Weather Widget will now display accurate information.

Art, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But I can tell you what art definitely is not. It’s not a plain and boring mouse. And to cure this Microsoft has launched a new wireless mouse, the Microsoft Mobile Mouse 3500 Artist Edition, which features some fresh designs from five artists from around the world.

The artists who designed the new Microsoft Mobile Mouse 3,500 Artist Edition include Kirra Jamison, Matt Moore, Linn Olofsdotter, Mike Perry and Jonny Wan and there are six different designs to choose from. There should be something for most everyone.

Some people love their iPhone 4, but miss the feel of a real keyboard. If you are one of these people, check out Nuu’s new MiniKey Keyboard case for the iPhone 4. The newly designed Nuu MiniKey now features a backlit keyboard and the backspace key has been moved to the upper right corner instead of directly above the enter key for added convenience.

This slide out keyboard also removes the pop-up touchscreen keyboard, which doubles the usable screen size of your iPhone 4 when typing. The Nuu MiniKey is available to purchase now for $80. Not a bad price for the convenience it delivers.

Onkyo has announced the X-U1 Micro Hi-Fi system in Japan. This system is priced at 35,000 Yen and for your money the music player features a CD player, an FM tuner, a pair of speakers (15W x 2ch output) and of course a USB port.

Other features include an iPod/iPhone/iPad cradle and a remote controller, so you can control the Onkyo X-U1 from anywhere you want. The X-U1 is also compatible with MP3 files. It has your music needs covered.

If you are looking for a luxury 3D HDTV that costs about $1,000 per inch, here it is. Bang & Olufsen’s BeoVision 4-85 plasma will be available to North American buyers next month for $85,000. So now you can brag to your other rich friends that yours costs more.

That price includes the triangular BeoLab 10 center channel speaker and a motorized stand that lowers it when you’re not watching. If you have any money left you can get some popcorn and watch some movies on it.

Logitech has announced that the Revue Google TV box will get the Android Market and Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) OS this summer. Awesome news! It means very good things for the Google TV platform.

Developers will be able to develop apps for tablets and Google TV using the same SDK. You won’t have to do a thing to get the update. All Logitech Revue Google TV boxes will automatically get the update over-the-air when it becomes available this summer.

All-in-one’s are great. They look attractive and save space on your desk. Packard Bell has a new AIO of their own for the European market. It goes by the name oneTwo S and features a 20-inch touchscreen display, and an Intel (2nd-gen Core) or AMD (up to Phenom II X6) processor.

There’s also an NVIDIA GeForce or AMD Radeon HD graphics card, a 2.0-megapixel webcam, optical drive and an optional TV tuner. The oneTwo S ships later this month for a base price of 499 Euro (about $710).

Viewsonic, according to some sources is ready to launch the Viewsonic ViewPad 7x, a new Android tablet that will outdo their current 7-inch model the ViewPad 7, but not replace it. The tablet will run Google’s tablet OS Honeycomb, and be the first of it’s size to do so.

Other features of the ViewSonic ViewPad 7x include an Nvidia Tegra 2 chip, two cameras front and back, HSPA+, DLNA and HDMI support for sharing media with your TV. It should be hitting stores in June.

That DS Lite above looks pretty genuine right? That’s what the buyer thought too when he purchased it on eBay. When he opened the package he knew something was wrong. The corrugated cardboard box was the first suspicious giveaway. Then on the back of the box there was pixelated English text.

When he opened the package he found that yes it was a fake, however, it still played DS and GBA games in their proper slots. The surface of the system has some small pockmarks, which is not up to Nintendo’s high quality assurance standards and the inner bezel is also discolored.

Well 3DS fans, June 7th is your lucky day. That’s when Nintendo will release the update you’ve been waiting for, which will give you the ability to download titles directly to the system through the eShop.

The Japanese update will be launching a day earlier (Of course) and is said to include a Virtual Console emulation as well as a 3D movie player, so maybe we will even get that promised Netflix support. Keep your fingers crossed. You won’t have long to wait now.